Curriculum Development and Renewal

Support

Curriculum Innovation Introduction
The Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching and Learning (GMCTL) can support various curriculum development initiatives being undertaken by programs, departments, and colleges.

How we can help

Curriculum development support includes a spectrum of activities that potentially involves significantly different levels of engagement and connection between the GMCTL and the academic unit being supported. This includes:

Process coaching: work with an organizing team to help design the process and provide behind-the-scenes support

Process resource support: provide background resources as requested

Process facilitation: work with the entire department to facilitate the process

Curriculum Innovation Fund: PCIP created this fund to provide academic units with support for innovative curriculum projects at the program and course level. The GMCTL administers this fund of approximately $250,000 per year for 2012 to 2016.

The following principles and values guide curriculum renewal and innovation:

1. Faculty-driven

You know your programs best. When faculty sees the renewal process as a time to reinvigorate and talk teaching, the process is a meaningful opportunity to really think deeply about what you want for your students and how courses fit together to build and weave concepts, skills, and values to provide the kind of learning experiences that make an outstanding program. As a team, your faculty is in charge of the renewal or creation of curriculum.

2. Data-informed

We know that all research is anchored in data collection and analysis. The research into your curriculum is no different. What have you currently got on the books? What is the experience of your students? Where do they go with those degrees? How successful are your graduates? What is the reputation of your program? What are the strengths and who thinks they are strengths? Surveys, spreadsheets, flipcharts, CAT, interviews, focus groups, inventories and audits—think in these terms for making your process data-informed. As with any research, rigor pays off. Think of what you currently have in terms of:

Course learning outcomes (knowledge, skills, and values);

Instructional strategies;

Content areas and threshold concepts;

Major concepts, theories and methods that are introduced and used;

Assessment practices and assignments (when and what);

Experiential learning opportunities;

Undergraduate research experiences;

Aboriginal/Indigenous perspectives;

International content and approaches; and

Learning resources and materials.

3. GMCTL-supported

The Curriculum Innovation Team at the GMCTL will support your curriculum process with our instructional design group and a group of curriculum support specialists who will help you design the process, help facilitate, provide coaching to your leadership team, or simply point you in the direction of resources that may be of use to you.

Our Model

Why and What: Curriculum Innovation and Renewal Cycle

The Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching and Learning can facilitate and support you through the overall process of the Curriculum Innovation and Renewal Cycle, including the cyclical stages of informed imagining, inventory, identify discrepancies, implement, investigate impact and re-imagine.

Curriculum Innovation Fund

PCIP created a Curriculum Innovation Fund to provide academic units with support for innovative curriculum projects at the program and course level. The GMCTL administers this fund of approximately $250,000 per year for 2012 to 2016.

Curriculum Alignment Tool

Inventorying Your Program Using The Curriculum Alignment Tool (CAT)

Reasons for Using CAT

The Curriculum Alignment Tool can be used by academic units to collect data about program courses in order to better understand what is currently offered in the curriculum, and determine whether these offerings meet established or renewed program goals.